For subscribers, it will mean more content. According to the government regulator, TV viewers will get a minimum of 100 free channels, at a maximum price of Rs100 ($2).

Beyond this, subscribers can access movies and other channels on demand.

For TV stakeholders, there are good commercial reasons why the switch to digital needs to happen.

Switching means greater transparency. The government, operators and broadcasters can get accurate figures of just how many people watch television, and exactly what are they watching.

Be prepared

Companies like Incable have been preparing for this switch for years.

They are one of the largest distributors of cable television signals and have hundreds of small local cable TV operators working for them.

Companies have spent many months and even years preparing for the switchover

In their main control room in Mumbai, they've had to install new equipment - called 'digital headends' to download signals transmitted by broadcasters to satellites.

The change in technology means that from just under 100 channels at present, operators will be able to provide up to 1,000 channels.

These are then sent to local cable operators who connect with the customers.

Going digital means a big boost in revenues.

"Now, we are not sure of number of consumers," says Madhav Betgeri, of Incable.

"Post-digitalisation, every television needs a set top box. Once a set top box is installed, we are sure that a customer is active and we'll start charging as per his demand."

One complaint has been that local cable operators often under-report subscriber numbers to avoid passing on fees and paying government taxes.

A recent report by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry said that cable operators declare only 15% to 20% of their subscriber base.

The bigger benefit will be to broadcasters who currently depend mainly on advertising for their revenues. Once digitised, cable operators will be forced to share their revenue collection.

Look to the skies

For those who can afford it, direct to home (DTH) is the other option.

India's television owners have the option of buying a set top box or having a satellite dish installed

Here, viewers get a small satellite dish on their roof and a set top box inside their homes.

India has more than 150 million homes with television, of which 25% have DTH and 51% receive cable TV. But DTH operators think their numbers will go up as digitisation will result in a more level playing field.

Shashi Arora is the chief executive of Airtel DTH.

"Any cost lopsidedness will now get equalised," he says.

"We pay higher fees as licence cost and taxes to the government. Also from the content cost perspective, we pay full cost to content across genres whereas cable TV companies pay much lower charges.

"This ambiguity will hopefully go away."

Satellite or direct-to-home operators think digitisation will mean a more level playing field and more subscribers

Digitisation could cost as much as $5bn according to some estimates. India recently opened up the sector to attract more capital to help fund this.

Under new rules, foreign companies are now allowed to own 74% of Indian cable and satellite TV operators, up from 49% previously.

Nearly 50,000 set top boxes are being sold every day across India's cities. As the country rapidly turns digital, the government says this is just the beginning.

Once the bandwidth is established, the network can be used for anything from providing more content to giving internet access via television sets.

A rich future that the government believes is worth a small investment by viewers today.